The Five Virtues of Confucius include "faithfulness," according to some translations. When I first read faithfulness in this list, I wondered what the translator meant by "faithfulness." The only occasions I have heard "faithfulness" mentioned was in the context of marital faithfulness, but that is not a topic in the Analects, so what was meant by faithfulness?
When I read Cicero's "On Duties," I saw that Cicero meant "constancy" when he said "faithfulness." Then I ran across this quote from Cicero: "The great foundation of justice is faithfulness, which consists in being constantly firm to your word, and a conscientious performance of all compacts and bargains."
Wow, faithfulness is the foundation of justice!
Is faithfulness of practical import today? Let's consider the story, "A Money-Fund Manager's Fateful Shift" by Steve Stecklow and Diya Gullapalli in the December 8, 2008 Wall Street Journal (front page). This article describes how Bruce R. Bent started the Reserve Fund, a money market fund, with a commitment to avoid "commercial paper," unsecured short-term corporate debt. Bent started the Reserve Fund, the 1st money market fund, in 1970.
Then Bruce Bent broke faith with his guiding principle and bought commercial paper from Lehman Brothers, a lot of it. Then Lehman Brothers went bankrupt, and in 2008 the Reserve Primary Fund "broke the buck:" its share value dropped below one dollar and its investors lost money. The China Investment Corporation, CIC, lost $5.4 Billion in the Reserve Primary Fund. Even today the website for the Reserve Fund advertises, "Security, liquidity, and peace of mind in one account," but how can you trust them when they have been unfaithful to their guiding principles?
America's economy is in trouble today because too many businessmen have not been faithful to what Walter Lippmann called the Old Gospel of Success. Lippmann quotes Benjamin Franklin as an example of the Old Gospel of Success: "prudent management and frugality will increase any fortune to any degree." (Page 167)
Lippmann's book, The Phantom Public, describes from pages 163 to 168 the complexities of modern business. He describes the business world as a complex, interrelated system. It is a "tangle of distant human relations," "invisibly managed markets," a chain stretching beyond the horizon, an "invisible environment," making impotent efforts to succeed by work and thrift.
Lippmann says these complexities lead to a concentration of economic power that needs to be commanded by a single source. He quotes Goethe's Faust: "And then a mighty work completed stands, one mind suffices for a thousand hands."
This line of reasoning explains Lippmann's New Gospel of Success: "for business success a man must project his mind over an invisible environment."
If there is one thing the Postmodernists have gotten right is that it is dangerous to place too much trust on the power of men's reasoning. Relying on calculated self-interest instead of morality as a compass has crashed our economy.
To restore our prosperity we must rediscover the classic virtues that made us a successful society and hold onto them.
Faithfulness is a timeless virtue.
Robert Canright
PS: At the end of Plato's Republic, Socrates says,
"I advise that we hold fast to the heavenly way and always seek justice and goodness..."
"Holding fast" is faithfulness. The "heavenly way" is the Dao of Heaven. There are Confucian ideas in the Western classics.
Friday, January 30, 2009
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
The Four Step Process and the Four Greek Virtues
In Chapter 3 of my book, Achieve Lasting Happiness, starting on page 65, I describe the Four Step Process for Self-Transformation.
Plato listed four cardinal virtues in "The Republic." Cicero discussed these virtues in his book, "On Duties" (De Officiis). I have noticed these 4 virtues relate to the Four Step Process for Self-Transformation. Notice I said they are related, that is not to say they are equivalent.
4 Step Process ----> 4 Greek Virtues
============================
"Seek truth" -------> "Wisdom"
"Commit yourself" --> "Courage"
"Live joyfully" -----> "Moderation"
"Share hope" ------> "Justice"
In our postmodern society, I think it is important to realize there can be no wisdom without a belief in truth that exists outside the human mind. Some postmodernists believe there is no truth, that what we call truth is something we create and accept, a social construct.
When our leaders believe they can mandate reality through sheer will power, that is a serious problem, as I mentioned in this blog on January 1, 2009, "Leadership Crisis: Mandating Reality."
I believe a society cannot long endure if it does not believe there is truth in this world.
Robert Canright
I last mentioned the 4 step process on June 29, 2008
The Four Step Process and the Eightfold Path
Plato listed four cardinal virtues in "The Republic." Cicero discussed these virtues in his book, "On Duties" (De Officiis). I have noticed these 4 virtues relate to the Four Step Process for Self-Transformation. Notice I said they are related, that is not to say they are equivalent.
4 Step Process ----> 4 Greek Virtues
============================
"Seek truth" -------> "Wisdom"
"Commit yourself" --> "Courage"
"Live joyfully" -----> "Moderation"
"Share hope" ------> "Justice"
In our postmodern society, I think it is important to realize there can be no wisdom without a belief in truth that exists outside the human mind. Some postmodernists believe there is no truth, that what we call truth is something we create and accept, a social construct.
When our leaders believe they can mandate reality through sheer will power, that is a serious problem, as I mentioned in this blog on January 1, 2009, "Leadership Crisis: Mandating Reality."
I believe a society cannot long endure if it does not believe there is truth in this world.
Robert Canright
I last mentioned the 4 step process on June 29, 2008
The Four Step Process and the Eightfold Path
Thursday, January 01, 2009
Leadership Crisis in America: Mandating Reality
NASA engineer Jeffrey Finckenor was quoted in the New York Times saying,
“At the highest levels of the agency, there seems to be a belief that you can mandate reality,” he wrote, “followed by a refusal to accept any information that runs counter to that mandate.”
This refusal to deal with reality has been a long standing feature of our Leadership Crisis. When I first started working as an engineer, decades ago, I was surprised by the gap between reality and the corporation's business plans. I have seen this refusal to deal with reality at many companies.
I remember trying to talk to a corporate vice president about problems with one of his projects, but he refused to listen. A couple of years later that project was shut down, the $25 million expense was written off, and many of the engineers and programmers were laid-off. This failure could have been avoided if problems were faced and solved instead of being ignored. What a waste of time and money that was, but this kind of waste is common in American business.
When leaders refuse to listen to the experts working for them, their projects will either be deficient or will utterly fail. Many of our executives and political leaders believe they can command unrealistic results and force success by sheer will power. NASA lost two satellites to Mars, the Mars Polar Lander and the Mars Climate Orbiter, because Vice President Al Gore decided to just order NASA to cut their budget and shorten their schedule. These failures were caused by the Faster-Better-Cheaper program pushed down NASA's throat by Al Gore. The Challenger Space Shuttle disaster was also caused by willful management.
The U.S.S. Scorpion submarine was lost at sea with 99 crew dead because management decided to use a drastically shortened overhaul schedule, as described in the book, "Silent Steel: The Mysterious Death of the Nuclear Attack Sub USS Scorpion" by Stephen Johnson. I could go on and on, describing wasted money, wasted opportunities, and wasted lives, but the point is made and a question must be asked.
How can smart people be so stupid?
Hubris, I think, lures our leaders to believe they have god-like powers over the universe.
Hubris wrecked the American economy in the Fall of 2008. The destructive power of hubris is plainly evident, and a willful disregard for reality is symptom of hubris.
The ancient Greeks learned about hubris through plays and historical accounts. The example of Xerxes whipping the sea was an example of hubris. We can teach our children about hubris the same way the ancient Greeks did: though drama, literature, and historical accounts.
It is imperative we include moral instruction in the education of our youth, educating them to be aware of hubris, to be aware of its destructive power, teaching them to recognize hubris in others and in themselves.
Robert Canright
The NYT article referenced was "The Fight Over NASA's Future" by John Schwartz, Tuesday December 30, 2008. It is a good article about NASA's future missions and replacements to the Space Shuttle.
“At the highest levels of the agency, there seems to be a belief that you can mandate reality,” he wrote, “followed by a refusal to accept any information that runs counter to that mandate.”
This refusal to deal with reality has been a long standing feature of our Leadership Crisis. When I first started working as an engineer, decades ago, I was surprised by the gap between reality and the corporation's business plans. I have seen this refusal to deal with reality at many companies.
I remember trying to talk to a corporate vice president about problems with one of his projects, but he refused to listen. A couple of years later that project was shut down, the $25 million expense was written off, and many of the engineers and programmers were laid-off. This failure could have been avoided if problems were faced and solved instead of being ignored. What a waste of time and money that was, but this kind of waste is common in American business.
When leaders refuse to listen to the experts working for them, their projects will either be deficient or will utterly fail. Many of our executives and political leaders believe they can command unrealistic results and force success by sheer will power. NASA lost two satellites to Mars, the Mars Polar Lander and the Mars Climate Orbiter, because Vice President Al Gore decided to just order NASA to cut their budget and shorten their schedule. These failures were caused by the Faster-Better-Cheaper program pushed down NASA's throat by Al Gore. The Challenger Space Shuttle disaster was also caused by willful management.
The U.S.S. Scorpion submarine was lost at sea with 99 crew dead because management decided to use a drastically shortened overhaul schedule, as described in the book, "Silent Steel: The Mysterious Death of the Nuclear Attack Sub USS Scorpion" by Stephen Johnson. I could go on and on, describing wasted money, wasted opportunities, and wasted lives, but the point is made and a question must be asked.
How can smart people be so stupid?
Hubris, I think, lures our leaders to believe they have god-like powers over the universe.
Hubris wrecked the American economy in the Fall of 2008. The destructive power of hubris is plainly evident, and a willful disregard for reality is symptom of hubris.
The ancient Greeks learned about hubris through plays and historical accounts. The example of Xerxes whipping the sea was an example of hubris. We can teach our children about hubris the same way the ancient Greeks did: though drama, literature, and historical accounts.
It is imperative we include moral instruction in the education of our youth, educating them to be aware of hubris, to be aware of its destructive power, teaching them to recognize hubris in others and in themselves.
Robert Canright
The NYT article referenced was "The Fight Over NASA's Future" by John Schwartz, Tuesday December 30, 2008. It is a good article about NASA's future missions and replacements to the Space Shuttle.
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